The Dangers Of Unhealthy Ingredients In Packaged Foods

Most household food budget is wasted on processed foods. Why did I say wasted? Read on and you will understand why.

Processed foods are canned or packaged foods that are always sought in grocery stores. If we try to see our grocery in a month we are spending more than half of our budget for packaged foods. As we all know these kinds of foods are full of additives, preservatives, sweeteners, fattening, coloring and chemicals that changes textures. Some of the contents are placed in the label of the packaging while others are hidden to make us believe that the product is worth buying. Are we getting benefits from these kinds of foods? We are getting absolutely nothing. Our body is created for an equivalent vitamins and minerals to sustain it and processed food is definitely not contributing to the goal and it is proven to endanger our body by taking away the nutrients we initially have in our system to protect our hearts. These default nutrients that we have in our system are soluble fiber, antioxidants and “good” fats.

Awareness of all these dangers is nonsense if we don’t put an end on it. Here are four harmful ingredients in packaged foods that will brighten your mind on the real danger you’re giving yourself as you consume processed foods. Our aim is for you to take a moment to stop and think for a while.

Trans Fat

Trans fats are twice as dangerous as saturated fats. This increases the level of bad cholesterol in our body and makes us prone to artery-clogging lipoprotein and triglycerides. This ingredient caused an estimate of 30,000 to 100,000 deaths each year due to heart problems.

These are foods known as easy alternatives for butter, lard and coconut oil. Foods like moist bakery muffins, crispy crackers, microwave popcorn, the known French fries and the heart-healthy alternative food contains transfats.

“Partially hydrogenated, fractionated, hydrogenated, partially hydrogenated oil,” These are the words you have to check on the label. The longer it is named the more trans fats you will get.

Refined Grains

Refined grains make us vulnerable to heart attacks, insulin resistance and high blood pressure. We do not have to worry if we are buying and eating “whole or wheat” products such as wheat bread, brown rice, cooked oatmeal and whole grain cereals.

We have to be careful if we are faced with refined grains. These are white bread, rolls, sugary low-fiber cereal, white rice, or white pasta. Intake of refined grains can increase our risk for heart attacks by 30 percent. We have to be a wise shopper. We should not let ourselves be deceived by the creative words or advertisements these products have. Products with deceptive words such as “made with wheat flour” or “seven grain” should be placed back to the display stand.

Salt

Sodium has a great part in our body system. It helps regulate blood pressure. It maintains a balance body fluid. It transmits nerves impulses. It makes our muscles contract. It is also the one keeping our senses work properly. Everyday adequate intake is necessary. We can have sodium from unprocessed food. We have milk, beets, celery and even our drinking water.

Our limit in sodium is 1,500 milligrams per day; this is about three-fourths of a teaspoon of salt. People over the age of 50 should try to consume 1,300 mg only per day to prevent rise in blood pressure. People over the age of 70 should aim for 1,200 mg per day. Too much of everything is harmful. Too much intake of salt will raise blood pressure. This is because the effort on freeing our bloodstream from the extra sodium taken raises blood volume thus forcing our heart to work beyond normal.

We can always refer to the “Nutritional Facts” on packaging to be able to know the real sodium count. As mentioned earlier let us not be deceived by the advertisements in the packaging such as “sodium free” or zero sodium” claims.

High-Fructose Corn Syrup

High fructose corn syrup is widely used alternative for the traditional sweeteners. It costs less; its taste is sweeter and is easier to mix with other ingredients. It gives an attractively brown color on our food. We have burger buns, breads and muffins. It is also present in beer, spaghetti sauce, soft drinks and ketchup. This is considered as harmful ingredient because this encourages overeating thus causing the increase on the risk of heart problems and diabetes. Fructose takes away our body reserves in chromium, a mineral needed to maintain a healthy level of cholesterol, insulin and blood sugar.

If we can see words like “corn sweetener,” “corn syrup,” or “corn syrup solids” as well as “high-fructose corn syrup” on the label then we should think twice and wise.

You can have a research on other harmful ingredients that processed food can give you. We are just giving out the most harmful ingredients of it for you to have a good look and review on it. We only live once and we always want to make out the best of our lives. Choose a healthy lifestyle. This simple article will surely make a big difference to your health and to the health of the people you cherish. Learn and share.

5 Responses

Yes, your wasted term is really justified as far as the unhealthy ingredients in packaged foods are concerned. Most of the people actually get deceived by the false claims made in advertisements of the packaged foods. Pretty well explained write-up.

More and more people are now aware of trans fats, and it was only cholesterol that was well known in the past. So avoid too much deep fried foods from re used oil. Apparently coconut oil does not turn into trans fats when heated, but it’s a saturated fat.

i think it’s quite scary the potential danger these packaged foods have. i recently received an article on the harm posed by cottonseed oil which is contained in many packaged foods due to it’s cheap price. i think i’ll have to spend alot more time reading the ingredients list in the supermarket.

Healthy Lifestyle is in business as an affiliate marketer and recommend products on this website for which we earn a commission: We hope this disclosure will demonstrate our intent to run an honest and reputable business. For more info, visit the Consumer Education Portal